New York (Agencies): Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has said that peace can’t prevail in region without resolving Kashmir issue, the Radio Pakistan reports on Tuesday.
In an interview with a US TV channel, Maleeha said that ongoing troubles with India in Kashmir will compel Pakistan to focus on its eastern frontier rather than the western front that could affect the peace process in Afghanistan.
, she said both Afghanistan and Kashmir issues are important in their own right but it is our eastern border that we perceive a threat as India has already attacked Pakistan.
“The current crisis between Pakistan and India will obviously mean that Pakistan will have to put its full focus on its eastern border and it could affect what it is trying to do on the front with Afghanistan,” Maleeha Lodhi said.
“In other words, our full focus is going to be on the eastern frontier rather than the western front and that could affect the peace process. Our attention is going to be where we feel there is a military threat to us,” Maleeha said.
Responding to a question about the possible impact of the simmering India-Pakistan tensions stemming from the Kashmir dispute, the Pakistani envoy said, “The ongoing threat is from India.”
The Afghan peace talks are currently taking place in Doha between Zalmay Khalilzad, the American special envoy and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader, who for the first time is taking a more direct role in the process.
